Demonstration of power by Manchester City: After the well-deserved 4: 1 (2: 0) against leaders Arsenal London on Wednesday evening, the Bayern conqueror of the Champions League quarter-finals has the successful title defense even more firmly in his own hands. Although the overwhelmed guests maintained their lead in the table with 75 points, Pep Guardiola’s team moved up to two points and still has two games to catch up. Should City win both games, they would be four points ahead with the same number of games (33 of 38 games played).
In front of 55,000 spectators at the Etihad Stadium, former Wolfsburg player Kevin de Bruyne set the course for victory with his opening goal in the seventh minute. The outstanding Belgian also prepared the hosts’ second goal, John Stones scored with a header (45+1). After the break, de Bruyne scored again in the 54th minute before Rob Holding scored the consolation goal (86′).
Man City’s striker Erling Haaland was unable to take advantage of several other scoring opportunities, and the Norwegian only scored his 33rd goal of the season in injury time. The success of the hosts was no longer in danger after the change of sides. The “Gunners”, whose last championship title was 19 years ago, had no chance for four matchdays. In the Champions League, Manchester City recently knocked out the last remaining German representative Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals (3-0, 1-1).
Cup winners FC Liverpool can still hope for a place in international business in the coming season. For the team of team manager Jürgen Klopp it was enough for a hard-fought 2-1 (1-1) away win at West Ham United. With this result, the “Reds” were able to move up to sixth place in the table.
At Chelsea FC, the series of failures of the past few weeks continued on Wednesday without national player Kai Havertz, who is resting due to knee problems. After the 0:2 (0:1) home defeat against FC Brentford, the Londoners have been waiting for a win for eight games.
Newly promoted Nottingham Forest got some breathing room at the bottom of the Premier League table. The former European Cup winner won his home game against Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 (1-1) and climbed from 19th to 17th place. The interim equalizer for the hosts was involuntarily scored by former Bundesliga professional Pascal Groß with an own goal (45+3).